Fulcrum Red Metal 1 XL Wheelset
The Red Metal 1 XL is the newly updated Red Metal wheelset from Campagnolo brand Fulcrum. Although a new name in the mountain bike world, Fulcrum Racing is making some serious waves in the industry by offering up some of the stiffest, strongest and meticulously well-built wheels available to mountain bikers today. Being a Campagnolo owned company, Fulcrum have been able to utilise their big brothers experience from building some of the finest components over the last 50 years, in order to make Fulcrum wheels the best on the market.
Each Fulcrum wheelset features a level of quality and aesthetic finishing that can only be achieved from the meticulous Italian engineering and manufacturing that is synonymous with Campagnolo, resulting in mountain bike wheels with durable and serviceable hubs, stiff rims and a quality hand-build that will last for years to come, not just till next racing season.
 

The Fulcrum Red Metal 1 XL wheelset proves that you can have your cake and eat it too...so to speak. Any self-confessed lycra-wearing XC racer will know the feeling of riding on the lightest wheels known to man, only to find them flex all over the place and give you the kind of steering that would have a tugg boat smirking. The problem with race wheelsets on the market is that they sacrifice too much strength and stiffness for light weight, and in some cases; bearing and freehub durability. When Fulcrum engineers introduced the Red Metal range, they wanted to challenge the norms and expectations of XC racers and trail riders by providing strong and stiff wheelsets that rode even better than they look. A stiff, well-built wheel tracks better through the rough stuff, accelerates faster, responds quicker to rider input and stays true for longer. By utilising the MoMag™ design that negates the need to drill the rims from the outside, and externally milling the rims to reduce rotational mass, the UST tubeless rim maintains DH-like stiffness at XC-level weight.
Just like the original Red Metal 1's, the XL's utilise industrial adjustable bearings with double sealing to set them up for minimal drag, while the durable 36-point engagement freehub will shock you with it's long term durability - no more servicing your freehub every couple of rides! One of the obvious upgrades on the XL's over the old 1's are the round straight pull alloy spokes that further drop rotational weight over the steel spokes, whilst increasing stiffness yet again.
With the kind of strength and stiffness that the Red Metal 1 XL's exude, these will not just appeal to XC racers but also trail riders and weekend warriors who are looking to drop some weight from their stock wheels whilst improving ride quality too.

From Fulcrum: 

"Red Metal™ 1 XL is the evolution of the first off-road model produced by Fulcrum® that immediately led to the victory by Team Orbea and Olympic champion Julien Absalon.
In this new lighter version, the Red Metal™ 1 XL features an aluminium rim with welded joint milled in the spaces between the spokes to reduce the weight to the maximum and maintain the highest values of resistance.
The aluminium spokes designed by Fulcrum® number 24 for both the front and rear wheels. In both cases we employed our 2:1 technology to improve torque transmission on the rear wheel and braking and directionality on the front.
The aluminium hubs have 20 mm axles that notably increase the stiffness of the wheel, which improves manoeuvring precision and eliminates the annoying phenomenon of pad-disc brake contact. The smoothness of the Red Metal™ 1 XL is guaranteed by industrial bearings with double seal. The maximum smoothness, virtually maintenance-free".

Technoloy Ultra-Fit™ Tubeless
Imagine the rim and tyre as a single unit composed of two materials. This is what we wanted to achieve conceptually with Ultra-Fit™ Tubeless technology. The rim was developed during the design stage to obtain perfect adherence with the tyre. The consequent elimination of friction makes it possible to improve performance considerably. Energy dispersion is drastically reduced by the tubeless tyre.
The advantages are indisputable even in terms of practicality. Fitting the tyre is facilitated by the form of the rim while two tracks in the rim groove help keep the type perfectly positioned at all times. Ultra-Fit™ Tubeless technology is used in Red Carbon™ and Red Fire™ wheels.

2:1 Two-to-One™ Spoke Ratio
The 2:1 Two-to-One^TM system has been used for all the rear wheels and for the first time Fulcrum® has also extended their advantages to all the front wheels fitted with disc brakes. The doubling of the spokes on the critical side makes it possible to reduce the unit load borne by each spoke as the spokes themselves are no longer subject to the mechanical stress resulting from the different disc. Overcoming this drawback the spokes will be able to transfer the forces exerted at the rear by the pedalling traction and at the front by the torsion torque of braking, and give the front wheel previously unknown stability.

The Fulcrum Red Metal 1 XL Wheelset features: